Back on the Attack

Hello! I'm back from my brief vacation in Flagstaff. It was fun and relaxing. I was able to write more material on The Study of Leonard Hughes thanks to the flowing sound of Oak Creek and the relaxing setting of the La Quinta courtyard. Unfortunately it wasn't as much as I'd like to have written, but I had other things to do as well. That included a quick trip to Sedona and snowboarding at AZ Snowbowl on Sunday. We also caught a movie on Saturday night, A View From the Top. It was a decent and fun movie. Funny as well.

I got back in time Sunday night for the 75th Annual Academy Awards. I watched the entire thing! I can't remember the last time I did that. One of the main reasons for that was it actually finished on time!! Kudos to the Academy and Gil Cates for setting a time limit of 45 seconds for speeches! The Oscars actually finished a couple minutes after it was scheduled to end. Last year it ended, something like an hour and a half after! Boo to Adrien Brody for feeling he was worth more than 45 seconds, which also suggests he was more important than the other winners who used 45 seconds or less. I'd have to say, though, that the Academy surprised me with some of their selections. Just a few, though. It wasn't surprising to see Chicago as the big winner, however, as it was the big buzz movie. The biggest surprise was the award for Best Song, which went to Eminem. Do you think the Academy chose that song because they truly felt it was the Best Song, over established song writers U2 and Paul Simon? Do you? Keep in mind the Academy is mostly made up of members that are seniors. My personal opinion of that selection, was that the Academy was trying to display an apparent open mindedness and sense of "hipness" by that selection.

Overall, the award show was watchable and entertaining. One thing that bothered me was that piece the Academy did, with bits from past winners, on how winning an Oscar has affected them. Some of them were a little too emphatic that an Oscar made such a huge impact on them. Perhaps it does financially, since winners are "hot commodities" in the industry. It was like a campaign commercial, validating the importance of the awards. Cheers to Kathy Bates, who in her piece said "Here's his ass (the Oscar statue's) and here's my lips." She then proceeded to kiss the ass of the Oscar statue. At least she can admit to what the Oscars really boil down to. But, like I said, the Academy is made up of members, mostly senior, that are in or have been in the film industry for years. It still comes down to their personal opinions. If actors/directors/writers, etc. don't feel their career is validated without an Oscar, they're in the business for the wrong reasons. The Academy Awards aren't much different than the Grammys and other award shows, which are mostly influenced by popularity and politics.